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The Tape Store is The UK's Only Dedicated Tape Measure Specialist offering incredible range, great prices and a 100% Money Back Guarantee. Our selection of metric and imperial tape measures are graded with both metric (mm, cm, m) and imperial measurements (in, ft) along their length. Not sure which is right for you? Why not get in touch?

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Metric and Imperial Tape Measures

This section of our site is dedicated to tape measures that display both metric and imperial graduations along their length. In our country at least, they are possibly the most useful and convenient providing the correct measurements for a whole host of different trades, professions and situations. In other words, along the blade you will find printed both mm, cm, m and in, ft etc.

Since 1995 it has been illegal to quote measurements (in a retail/commercial situation) in imperial measurements. Whilst there are a few trades and scenarios that are exempt from this (the railway industry, for example, still quotes distances in miles and chains), the vast majority of the UK's, if not the World's, tradesmen and professional now use millimetres, centimetres and metres as their primary units of measurement.

That said, whether you choose to work in metric or imperial graduations can depend upon a variety of factors. From your age and background to the industry you've grown up working in, so many variables will affect the type of measurement you're most comfortable with.

Despite the global push towards the metric system of measurement, the most commonly purchased type of tape measure in the UK is not the metric (or 'metric only') tape. By some considerable margin it is tape measures with both metric and imperial graduations that outsell their metric counterparts. Why? Well, this is most likely down to the fact that, despite our official move to the metric system in '95, we've never quite accepted the shift wholesale. We still measure distances in yards and miles on motorway signs, our cars still note speed and distance in miles per hour... here in the UK we're not quite ready to let go of the imperial system just yet!